Meatless Monday comes to San Diego Unified School District

One of the district's main focuses is to get students excited about healthy eating habits.

Sept. 12—Camila Guzman reached for her favorite meal Monday at the Sherman Academy cafeteria: a burger.

The 7-year-old studied the oddly speckled patty for a second, then added a generous squirt of ketchup and took a bite.

“This one looks different because it has vegetables inside,” Camila said. “It still tastes like McDonald’s.”

Cafeterias at elementary schools across the San Diego Unified district went vegetarian Monday, eliminating cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets and other popular meaty meals from their menus. They instead offered garden veggie burgers, cheese pizza, salad bars and sunflower-seed butter and jelly sandwiches. The meatless menu will be served every Monday.

It was a decision that brought the duo recognition at Monday night’s MenuDirections 2015 awards ceremony in Memphis, Tenn., which is part of FoodService Director magazine’s annual conference geared towards foodservice operators and suppliers.